


Creative Differences.

by dimplesmcflirt



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternative Universe - Modern Setting, Explicit Sexual Content, Just be patient young grasshoppers, Multi, Slow Burn, Summer Camp, There will be plenty banging, They will bang
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-03-22 10:48:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3725932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimplesmcflirt/pseuds/dimplesmcflirt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Ark wasn't your usual cookie cuter summer camp. In the outskirts of Vancouver, British Columbia. The property had acres upon acres of thick forest, and it's own private lake. Two separate sleeping quarters, a few smaller (and highly sought out) cottages, a green house, boat house - which held a huge selection - and a on road garage vehicles to match. There was an obstacle course that included nearly everything you'd find in military training, a huge campfire/auditorium area where he had an outdoor screen and projector for displaying movies (usually classics). Not to mention a main building which held a couple of classrooms to go through basic theories, the medical clinic and the dining area and kitchen, that finally composed the camp.</p><p>Bellamy Blake is finally being promoted to the job he's always wanted, and is nearly everyone's favorite counselor. Clarke Griffin is stepping up as counselor as the camp's reigning princess, her parents: The Camp's Creative Director and Standing Physician. </p><p>It's no secret the two of them don't see eye to eye, but due to unexpected circumstances they'll have to learn to work together. Will the sparks flying between them make them crash and burn?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is one of the things I mentioned I was cooking up on Grounded. There will be sexing, but you guys are going to have to be patient, because I have plans for a slow build, please don't hate me (I promise it won't take THAT long).

The Ark wasn't your usual cookie cuter summer camp. It wasn't just that the admissions fee was through the roof, but that they really made it worth every single penny. They had a wide range of activities designed to explore and instruct you on outdoor survival skills in a reasonably controlled environment. The owner was a nature enthusiast eccentric millionaire that had retreated into the huge stretch of property in the outskirts of Vancouver, British Columbia. With his own private lake, acres upon acres of thick forest and his main cottage, Thelonious Jaha had set on creating his vision for the place.

  
Two separate sleeping quarters, a few smaller (and highly sought out) cottages, a green house, boat house - which held a huge selection of kayaks, canoes, small sail boats and his personal day selling yacht - a garage to match with regular bikes and dirt bikes, ATVs and a couple of trucks only him and his senior staff had access to. There was an obstacle course that included nearly everything you'd find in military training, a huge campfire/auditorium area where he had an outdoor screen and projector for displaying movies (usually classics). Not to mention a main building which held a couple of classrooms to go through basic theories, the medical clinic and the dining area and kitchen, that finally composed the camp.

  
They had been running for about four years now, his team consisted mostly of people he knew from college, Marcus Kane and Jake Griffin were his senior counselors and business partners, Marcus ran the camp, while Jake focused on the people. Jake's wife, Abigail was their physician. Together they envisioned activities, prepared classes on basic survival needs and hired a staff of younger counselors, seeing their public mostly consisted of teenagers and young adults, the minimum age being 15. Most of their staff consisted of fresh out of college counselors responsible for teaching some of the classes, supervising the activities, and making sure no one got on each other's throats, though hunting game was fair. Most years they had to look for replacements, and there were always interns in the summer where the camp was it's busiest. That was how Bellamy Blake had come to them.

  
Bellamy had just finished his online Masters program, where he had mastered in History, and he was having a hard time actually finding something that would suit him, while allowing him to stop working as a bartender and not have him move all the way across the country, something he wouldn't do on the account of his younger sister, Octavia. Octavia was nearly high school, and a bit lost at the moment, not really sure of what she wanted to do with her life. He knew his sister was bright, but agitated, vivacious, but stubborn, so he saw the camp as an opportunity. Bellamy started working there during the summer before her senior year, and he promised that if she kept her grades up during that year, she could come for the next summer program, as a graduation present.

  
During his first summer he was there for the whole three months, having a few days off when he came back into town to check on the then 18 year old Octavia, finding their apartment in a reasonable state of mess every time. He told her about everything from the campfires and kids who brought instruments to the camping trips where they actually pitched up tents in the woods and told spooky stories, which Bellamy easily exceled at, quickly becoming nearly everyone's favorite counselor. Even though there were some hiccups, like a select group who found him arrogant and impulsive - Jaha had pressed them to not go easy on the campers - and injuries from scraped knees to broken limbs and actual poisoning that only hadn't ended in a fatality because they had a brilliant botanist, Lincoln.  

  
Much to Octavia's surprise, Bellamy even made some friends. Another couple of staffers, Wick and Raven, the first who was a forest engineer and had worked on the camp's project from the early days, and the latter who was a mechanical engineer and responsible for the bikes and trucks, but often worked on Jaha's yacht if that need be. Besides a group of campers that seemed to kind of worship the ground he walked on from how he talked about it and were about her age. Jasper and Monty a duo that apparently was inseparable composed of a shaggy energetic puppy of a man and his little genius hacker friend; and Miller, who was often with them, despite sounding a lot more mature, and who's father was a part of Marcus and Jake Griffin's team.

  
There were a couple more people Bellamy mentioned less often but more than once as well, John Murphy a little troublemaker that had actually been kicked out a little bit into the second month. Harper, a quiet girl who couldn't quite hide the crush she had on Jasper, even though he didn't seem to correspond. Finally the crowned prince and princess of the camp: Wells Jaha, Thelonious son, and Clarke Griffin, Jake and Abby's daughter. Both had been home schooled at the camp, but would be starting college during the next semester and Bellamy wondered if that would broaden their horizons a little bit. They always seemed to be together, and always alone with each other. Wells was never taking part in any activity unless Clarke was as well, though he had seen Clarke without him a couple of times. So even though Bellamy could understand growing up without going to a proper school might have hindered their social skills quite a bit, he could tell the boy needed some separation, or at least she wanted some from him.

  
Octavia smiled as he told her the stories because Bellamy had always been like that, Bellamy had always been about stories and people, and reading them, and learning their stories, or making up ones of his own with the pieces he'd put together. Their mother had liked stories, and had told him plenty, from what Octavia remembered, she had told her plenty as well, even if for the past six years the one who'd been telling her all the stories was Bellamy.

  
Even though their father had left early on after she was born, for which Bellamy never forgave him, it was Octavia's mothers death that had really triggered the change in her brother. Bellamy had been a bright, happy, curious teenager, one that often probed her with tickle fights and played make believe with her, until in his freshman year at college, their mother got sick, and died not long after. Octavia had been thirteen. Bellamy had dropped out of college to start working full time so he could take care of them, that was, until the next year she had made him go back to school, by taking on a part time job at a diner after school and refusing to quit. She had been there to smile proudly and cheer him on when he managed to graduate at the time slot he had meant to if he hadn't dropped out, while still working part time and taking weekend shifts at the local bar.

  
Much like he was for her, Octavia was Bellamy's rock. She was the reason he even bothered trying, the reason he hadn't given up, for all things he had no problem imagining, the man had no idea what would have been of his life had he actually not had Octavia in his life. He had grown quite broody when his father left, until his mother called him out on it, pressing that now he was the man of the house, and he should act like it, that had never proved itself more true than when she died. It wasn't until Octavia stubbornly found herself a part time job that he realized that by becoming the man of the house at that time, he had stopped being a kid as well, much sooner than he should have had. And it wasn't like he had a second chance at it now, but he could at least go back to being the fun person he once had been. Go back to tickle fights and telling stories, and realizing taking care of his sister was a lot more than providing to her, and that's what he needed to do now. Not let her lose her focus and her will much like she hadn't let him do the same.

  
Not that he thought that the camp would save Octavia or anything, but there were good people there, smart people, and valuable lessons to be learnt, friends to be made, people who knew what they were going to do, people who would be ultimately enjoying their breaks from college, and could bring her a little more insight than him. It wasn't easy seeing so confused, because it had been easy for Bellamy to settle on History, with a minor in English. He enjoyed writing, but stories weren't so much about creating, as they were taking from the past for him. He'd have plenty of sociology and philosophy classes, which counted for the second part, that were people. It wasn't about words and metaphors, so much as the truth and feelings. And as much as he took pride in knowing people, and knowing his sister, he didn't want to pressure her into a breaking point and push her away from him, and he knew he had the tendency to be overbearingly protective sometimes, but he understood this was something she needed to figure out for herself. He just wanted to offer her this push in the right direction.

  
Bellamy could tell she was actually excited to go, and that had actually made her work extra hard on her school work during that year, even though he really didn't need her to, to take her, she was thriving so damn much, it made him so proud he couldn't bring himself to tell her. And it was all for much more than just camp, when she graduated second in class. He brought her over to Grounders, the bar he worked on weekends, and surprised her by inviting some of the people he had talked about so much. Wick, Raven, Jasper, Monty, Miller and Lincoln.

  
"Blake Jr! What a pleasure to finally meet this nerd's sister." Wick was the first one to promptly introduce himself. "I hear you'll be attending our glorious camp this summer season."

  
"Well, the nerd has been dangling that fruit in front of me." Octavia smiled sheepishly, as she shook moved to hug everyone, even those who seemed surprised by her actions. "I've heard so much about all of you already."

  
"And us about you, seriously, Bell won't shut up about you for two seconds." Raven chided, as she got her hug from Octavia. "Well, except maybe when he's complaining about Princess Clarke."

  
"You know I thought he'd only do that at home, I mean I know he's like grumpy cat, but I didn't think he'd complain about one of his supervisors daughter to all of you."

  
"Well, it hasn't been that bad, seeing she's off at college, but we're expecting Clash of Titans round 2, this summer." Jasper said in a small smirk.

  
"She challenges his authority, you can imagine your brother doesn't like that too much." Lincoln accessed.

  
"Imagine? I live it every day my friend." Octavia smirked, as Bellamy finally rolled his eyes, and made his way behind the counter to start working on everybody's drinks. "I don't know many people who just don't give up trying after a while, I've certainly learnt to pick my battles."

  
"Oh have you? That's hilarious." Bellamy snorted, handing her a rum and coke.

   
"I don't really think Clarke picks battles though, she just fights on through them all." Monty chuckled a bit, shaking his head slowly.

  
"That's because Princess hasn't had all that many people tell her no, now, has she? She's not used to actual fights." Bellamy said, handing Wick his beer, and Lincoln his scotch.

  
 "Oh, you don't think you two fought plenty?" Miller teased.

  
"She's coming over as a counselor this time around, you might prepare yourself for some biting." Raven smirked, waggling her eyebrows as she sipped at her gin and tonic. "Or you could always resolve it the good old fashion way, you know? By fucking."

  
With that everyone seemed to laugh, even though Octavia blushed and did so a bit awkwardly and Bellamy just groaned, rolling his eyes.

  
"I hadn't realized this was such a pressing issue." Octavia piped up, sipping at her drink as she looked over at her brother's group of friends. "I guess I'll just have to come and see for myself, won't I Bell?" She turned to her brother then, leaning over the counter.

  
"Yeah, O. I guess you will." Bellamy finally relented, smiling at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For everyone wondering, yes, I've also had some ideas of how to expand the universe I started on Grounded, so keep your eyes open for that. I'd love some feedback. You can also find me fangirling without stop on [tumblr.](http:thesongwithin.tumblr.com)


	2. Chapter Two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Here's chapter two and the first insight into Clarke's side of the story. That's how I've been working on this story so far, as much as things get a little wibbly wobbly the chapters alternate between their focus on Bell, and their focus on Clarke. I hope you guys enjoy.

Clarke Griffin's life had changed quite drastically the minute she moved out of her uncle Jaha's camp. It wasn't that the girl had lived there all their life, though they'd moved into his personal cottage as soon as they started bringing the Ark from the ground up, and she must have been around eleven or twelve at that time. But she'd been hearing about the Ark ever since she could remember, it might as well have been her first word, her father and Thelonious' dream from college had seemed more like just that at first. It wasn't that Jaha didn't have the money, he came from a prestigious family and he was already set on doubling his initial fortune not long after leaving university, but they had met their soulmates, and started families, and the dream kept being postponed. That was, until his wife, Wells' mother had died.

She often thought that her uncle had thrown himself into the Ark project so intently after that to distract himself, after all, people grieved in different ways. Clarke remembered being nine and Wells coming to live with them for a while, she didn't remember exactly for how long, but both their birthdays had passed before Thelonious came back. Spotting a full beard, flecked with gray she probably wouldn't have recognized him if he hadn't already been in their kitchen in the morning talking to her parents when her and Wells finally woke up and came downstairs.

It was then that he mentioned the land, a national park in it's own right, being sought out by corporations for a little bit of what could be considered environmental terrorism if you look at it properly. She know thought of how he decided to save the land because he couldn't manage to save his wife, and that's why he fought so hard to get it. The biding wars took long, and then there was building the cottage they could all live more than comfortably in. They'd move in as soon as that was done so they could start working on turning it into a proper camp, their cottage was a bit separated from the main area, and they basically only saw the construction site on the weekends. Because during the week, their parents had hired her and Wells a tutor, so they could be home schooled, since the property was far enough from town that they weren't comfortable having the kids so far, specially considering that whenever she wasn't at the hospital, Abigail was also at the camp.

Despite not being able to say she made plenty of high school friends, Clarke could say she saw Canada's state of the art, luxury survivor camp brought up from scratch, from blueprints, to construction sites, to the opening day. It wasn't that she hadn't met people, and made friends, and that she didn't have access to the internet. A lot of the boom in the teenage attendance at the camp had to do with the social media plan her and Wells had come up with, creating a Twitter for the camp early on and Instagraming pictures that could be considered behind the scenes of it coming to life, along with some funny videos of them around the woods.

It was actually embarrassing when it came to the point of actually being on the flyers, and online banners, her, Wells and her parents. There was a spread on Thelonious on the site as well, but he hadn't desired to be in any of the advertisement. Soon enough they were hiring people, and the camp was open for her impromptu sweet sixteen party, not that she had many people to invite, but Clarke was happy with their small setting of staffers and family. It had been pretty, and simple, just like she would have wanted it, she wore a flowing white dress and flowers in her hair, as they danced barefoot around the campfire singing classics and things like Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.

That was the life she knew, being at camp, making new friends during weekends and summers, and keeping friends with their fixed staff, though most counselors eventually moved on to other things. That was how she met Finn, he had come in to be interviewed from Seattle, always one for the outdoors, he was hired as a junior counselor on the spot, only meant to stay the summer, because he was still in college. Or already in college, in Clarke's eyes, since he was less than two years older than her and just about to start his senior year, while Clarke was slotted for another year of high school. Granted, he had graduated early and the education system was quite different in the States.

Even if a little reckless and full of himself, Finn was charming and effortlessly so, and he often sneaked over to their cottage just to bring her out into the woods in the middle of the night, so they could go on canoe rides, or circle their bikes around the dying embers in the camp fire. He had been her first kiss, her first love, her first time. That was, until his girlfriend came up in the last week of summer to spend it with him. Raven had gotten there in a beat up old chevy truck, and barely cut the engine before she was throwing herself out of the car, and running towards a very surprised Finn.

Apparently the two of them had been childhood sweethearts, and Raven had just managed to snag an interview to be their official mechanic, because the one that was leaving had worked for her dad and vouched for her. It was all supposed to be one big surprise, so her and Finn could be there around the clock once he graduated. That was, if they had stayed together that long, obviously. It wasn't that Clarke told her, even though she wanted to, she felt like it was Finn's responsibility to do so, even though she had given him a time frame, and started avoiding him like the plague. At first, it seemed like Raven had forgiven him, but as he left and she stayed back, after a couple of weeks of animosity and sulking, Clarke knew she had ended up with the better end of the bargain, by having Raven around.

Eventually the two bonded over their wounds, and Raven really helped her with her Physics homework, that was starting to get the best of her. She was great with Biology and Chemistry, but whenever it started getting a bit too mathematical Clarke really couldn't bother. Raven had also given her first beer, and taught her how to ride the dirt bikes while Clarke had only felt secure to do so with the ATVs. They shit talked Finn, and Clarke vouched to never trust over confident reckless boys again, while the other one laughed and patted her head a bit condescendingly and assuring her she was a Padawan with much to learn.

A Padawan she was indeed, but a stubborn one at that, as she got to put that to the test the summer before she left for University when Bellamy Blake was hired into the camp's staff, all tall frame, tanned skin, dark curls, freckles and broody eyes. He was the epitome of what she had sworn off of, if she thought Finn had seemed brash and arrogant at first, it was because she had never known Bellamy Blake, not that she had any proof that he too was a cheating asshole, but he was definitely a slightly power abusing dickhead. Sure he was responsible for the just turned overage group, and they were usually pretentious rich kids looking for one last hurrah of an adventure before college, but Clarke was now a part of that group, in what she swore would be her last summer as a camper or so help her God. Bellamy pushed and prodded at them, as if he was trying to get under their skin, in a way a lot of them seemed to find inspirational but she just found narcissistic, what with how he was always there proving that he was bigger, badder and better than them.

Mr. Tall, dark and handsome with his head in his ass had almost gotten Harper killed, when he was out with a group on a survival activity and she apparently had eaten a mushroom that Monty and Jasper had been debating it could get them high. Granted, if he hadn't brought her running straight back to the medical bay in his arms like she weighed nothing, and showed Lincoln what she had eaten, they would probably never had saved her. And he wasn't at fault of Harper's stupid need to impress Jasper, but he also should have had a better handle on the situation at hand, and he had probably been distracted flirting with one of the dozens of girls who seemed to pine over him. Knowing he was going to be there on weekends during the year only made Clarke even happier that she was starting college, that was, until she actually had to.

I have no clue what I'm doing, she thought as she stepped into the University of Alberta. She wasn't quite sure what had motivated her to not stay in British Columbia, maybe it was the notion that she wanted to challenge, maybe that was something she should thank the dickhead for, she had actually gotten the taste for challenging herself. But maybe she had pushed just a tad too far, she was away from home, in a city she didn't know, kicking off pre-med when a little part of her still fantasized about art school.

It wasn't that she had expected it to be easy, or that she thought she'd instantly make friends, but she soon realized she had seriously underestimated the amount of work she'd actually have on her hands. She never managed to actually finish packing before her classes started, and obviously she never managed to later in the year either, cramming for tests and trying to pick out some art courses as well meant she slept a lot less than she should every night and that she had nearly worked herself into exhaustion when Christmas break rolled around.

Just when she figured out her rhythm, and really got a hang of things, she heard the news. Her dad had suffered a heart attack due to stress, and he'd be stepping down for most his duties at the camp, but they really didn't want to alarm anyone, so there weren't many people who knew. Marcus was going to take on more responsibilities, and both her and Wells were coming back as counselors this year, while ultimately looking for someone who was qualified to take on Jake's responsibilities as Creative Director in the summer season.

Clarke rushed home that weekend, to find her dad in mandatory bed rest drinking tea, frazzled, but smiling at her as she came into his room. Clarke settled down next to him, resting her head on his chest as she held on tight to him. He had laughed, though weakly, reassuring her he'd be fine, and that her mother was already doing plenty of fussing over him.

"I should have been here when it happened, I shouldn't have moved away for school, I'm transferring to British Columbia as soon as I can, I need to be here for you dad." Clarke mumbled into his chest as her father ran his fingers in a feather light touch through her hair.

"You should and need to do what's best for your life, little Griffin, your old man is going to be fine." Jake sighed, touching her temple gently.

"You had a heart attack dad, you can't promise that. This is serious. You shouldn't be working too hard, you shouldn't be working so hard for so long. Jaha had this huge idea, and he brought you into it with him but you Marcus, mom and the counselors do all the work, he's just off being one with nature or God knows what."

"Clarke..." Her father chastised, shaking his head slowly. "We live in this paradise on Earth, where the two of us actually dreamt of building since we were teenagers, we've made it... This is our promise land."

"You mean it's his promise land, and the promise land of the privileged little shits whose parents think they need some perspective." She grumbled, and her father actually laughed light heartedly at that.

"Do you?" He teased, playfully, smiling down at his hot headed daughter. "You know that's not everyone here."

"I know that. But you also know it's not how you intended it to be at first. Jaha and Kane think that if we lower the fee we're sending a message, compromising our service, and we're not. We don't need to charge as much as we do, we don't." Clarke sighed, leaning closer to her dad. "I'm sorry, I'm making you worry about this again."

"Like I knew you would." Jake chuckled a bit, sighing tiredly then. "Look, now that I'm stepping down, and you and Wells are stepping up Kane is going to count on you two for a lot of the ideas and proposals, maybe Thelonious will listen to his son, and we all know Wells will listen to you. I'm old, and I'm tired, and I've tried, and tried again... They're just as old, and about as stubborn... They need a fresh point of view, like what you kids came up with, with the Twitteres..."

"Twitter." Clarke smiled sheepishly, looking up at her father, who rolled his eyes, but smirked down at her.

"Yes, that. Your mother isn't going to bother herself with that sort of thing, not with me like this... But Wells has a bigger heart and a softer nature than his father, and ultimately this place is going to belong to the two of you when we're all gone."

"Can we not talk about you being gone right now?" She snapped a bit, feeling herself getting emotional, tears starting to prickle her eyes and her throat tight with feeling, and Jake's expression softened as he hugged his daughter.

"Of course sweetheart. What do you want to talk about?"

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens." Clarke said, smiling, and snuggling into her father's chest, and actually settling in to sleep before they could talk about anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try and keep this up, one chapter every Saturday, if my writing takes off then I'll probably manage to post two. All feedback is lovely. Come talk to me on [tumblr](http:thesongwithin.tumblr.com), I promise I don't bite. I might on the other hand, take prompts <3


	3. Chapter Three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. I CAN'T EVEN BEGIN TO EXPLAIN HOW SORRY. I've just been so consumed with all the ideas and prompts that have presented themselves to me this story kind of took to the back burner, but I've already got the next chapter almost ready as well, so you guys shouldn't worry about that, it should be up later this week.

The day they're meant to head into camp Octavia's up before him, so obviously she takes that as a sign to wake him up by heading over to his bedroom and jumping onto his bed squealing time and time again. In retrospect, Bellamy probably should have told her off, or something, but Octavia was one of those people that just infect everyone else with their mood, and it was hard to remember the last time he had seen his sister so happy. So he was up and out of bed soon enough, and in the kitchen flipping them pancakes while O made coffee, not that she needed any, but Bellamy certainly did.

It had just stroke 5AM and the sun wasn't even up yet, but seeing they had to load everything in the car and be at camp by seven, or at least he did (not that Octavia would have let him go without her, even when Jasper had offered to let her ride in with him and Monty later). It was almost six by the time they had finished eating, he had snuck in a quick shower, and finished loading the car, which gave them just about time to get to Camp nearly thirty minutes early, and be the first ones getting there for the summer rush.

Bellamy headed over to one of the separate cottages, because he had just been promoted to senior counselor and it had it's perks, there was a couch aside for Octavia to crash in if she didn't want to stay with the girls at the main camper cottage. He looked around as he set his things down and smiled to himself, taking it all in and thinking he could get used to that. It was a two level cottage with an open floor concept, it opened up to the kitchen area with a small oven, a fridge and cabinets that were lighter than the wood in the walls. Flowing into living room with a nice leather set of couch and a couple armchairs, and some quirky but stylish looking pillows and stairs at the back, that he took up towards the bedroom. It a queen sized couple's bed lined with a flannel patterned quilt and fluffy looking pillows, a nightstand that looked to be mahogany and a door that led to a simple bathroom with an actual bath, that he was sure he'd have to squeeze in, but would be very welcome.

Throwing his bags onto the bed, he noticed the dresser he could tuck everything in nicely, but opted for doing that later, as he stretched, and headed back downstairs to find Octavia stretched over his couch, smiling. Bellamy let her know he had the staff meeting to attend and that she was free to roam around if she promised not to get him or herself into trouble, since she wasn't free to actually take advantage of any of the camp's resources just yet. Still, the two of them shuffled out of his cottage to see Raven and Wick driving up to the one next to them, the man's head poking out of the passenger's seat as he waved at them happily.

"Blakes! You beat us to it. I told my girl Raven you would, but you know how she likes her beauty sleep." Kyle piped up, as Raven cut the engine before they stepped out. "You all settled in? Cottage is nice, eh?"

"Yeah, these are great, far cry from the extra room in the main cabin." Bellamy replied, talking about the closed off room there was in the main camper's cabin for two counselors to share. The single beds were slightly wider than the ones in bunk beds in the main area, but they weren't exactly big, and he still had to share a room with whoever was sharing his duties with him, and he remembered the more than unpleasant year where that had been Finn Collins. "Great to have my own space."

"Bellamy Blake, the lone wolf." Raven teased, as she stepped out of the car as well. "Are you heading up to the meeting? Is it time already?"

"You've got enough time to settle in first if you want, I'm heading up to the camp fire, they're probably getting ready for it already." He told his colleagues smiling, as he draped an arm protectively over Octavia's shoulder. "Besides, I can point some things out to O on the way, dunk her in the lake as an initiation ritual or something." The smirk he offered his sister made his eyes crinkle at the sides a bit, but he winked at her, gasping as she offered him her elbow to his side in response. "That's what I get for bringing you here? So much for gratitude."

"That's what you get for being a pain in the ass, now let's get moving Bell!" Octavia wrapped her arm around his waist, after rubbing his side gently, making sure he was actually fine before they started walking alongside each other, Bellamy's stride unhurried as he walked in time with her. He couldn't help rolling his eyes, when Octavia started moving her feet in a silly game they played when they were younger, and he had to follow her lead going from one side to the other, one step back and two steps forward, to which soon he was laughing as they approached the camp fire.

"Blake! Ha. I knew it. Marcus, you owe me twenty bucks." Jake Griffin's voice called to his attention, and he smiled at the man he kind of looked up to as a sort of mentor, mostly because he was one of the only people Bellamy actually felt true respect here at the camp. It wasn't that he didn't like Jaha or Kane, just that his respect to them had to do with the fact that they created this space and signed his paycheck, but Jake Griffin was the real soul behind the Ark. "You're the first one here."

"I'm glad someone had the faith in me to know I would be, who did Kane bet on?" Bellamy walked over to the man, taking notice of a little shift in his whole presence, wondering if he was under the weather or something, because his hair looked like it had grown a little too grey from the last time he saw him, and he looked skinnier and a bit fatigued. "Is everything ok, Jake?" He asked in a smaller tone as he hugged the older man.

"All in do time." Was the reply he got and that hadn't really eased his concern. "This must be Octavia." Griffin turned to the girl, smiling.

"I wasn't aware we were encouraged to bring over our romantic partners. Isn't that going to distract you from your job, Bellamy?" He didn't have to look up to see who had uttered the question, but Bellamy did nonetheless, finding Jake's daughter, the one and only Clarke Griffin close enough, a scowl on her face.

"Oh, I can take care of my functions just fine, Princess." He snickered, then turned to Octavia, who rolled her eyes before the three of them, including Jake, started laughing. "And this, is my baby sister. It's okay to be jealous, but incest is not my jam." At that Jake's laughter died down a bit as he hid his face while shaking his head, and Bellamy had to duck away from another jab of Octavia's elbow.

"Could you be nice to people for a change? Or does it physically pain you to try?" Octavia chastised him.

"Are you sure you two are related? I can't see someone who shares your gene pool making that sort of comment. That must be why I like her already. Hi, I'm Clarke, welcome to The Ark." The blonde girl stretched out her hand in such a smile that made it hard to believe the fact that she was scowling half a minute ago. "I just realized that rhymed, sorry."

"It's fine, Clarke from the Ark." The brunette smirked, and winked at her, as she shook her hand. "I hope you accept my late apologies for Bellamy, he's a lovely, though over protective older brother, but he can be a dickhead to most everyone else."

"Though all the smirking and winking, I get the resemblance now. I'm glad you only got stuck with the good things."

"Wait did I actually hear that? Did Clarke Griffin just pay me a compliment in some shape or form?" Bellamy couldn't keep the teasing tone out of his voice, as he smirked widely, only breaking out laughing when Clarke responded by rolling her eyes. It wasn’t that he disliked Clarke, he really didn’t, not for a while. He had his reservations at first, as he had with Wells, but they turned out to be pretty alright kids, a little awkward for both of them, a little pretentious for her, but it was all that, a little. He chalked it up to growing up without much contact with the real world, and learnt to respect the both of them, as the most seasoned campers he ever supervised and even creating a sort of kinship with Wells. It was just that asking him to resist pushing Clarke’s buttons was like asking him to go against his nature.

"Okay, I think that's enough for you two. Tone it down for now, will you? You wouldn't deny an old man, right?" Jake requested, and he sounded a little winded, prompting both Bellamy and Clarke to help him stand up straighter and help him over to one of the logs so he could sit down.

"I knew it was a bad idea for you to come over." Clarke's voice was barely a whisper, small and apparently broken as she reached for her dad's face, her expression was softer than Bellamy had ever seen it, and he felt his stomach twisting a little uncomfortably, because soft wasn't something he ever thought he'd use to describe Clarke Griffin, and that could only mean something was actually going on.

Bellamy's eyes racked around the campfire where Wells stood with his father, worried expressions on their faces. Marcus sat on a log with a clipboard writing at things, eyes darting between the paper and the three of them, and Abby Griffin sat beside him, looking intently over at her family with a look he had seen too many time on Clarke's face when she had to step down from an argument with him.  

"Clarke..." Bellamy decided to call out to her, and he couldn't remember if he had actually ever used her name so softly. "What's going on?"

"Oh, will the two of you stop being such worry warts." The older Griffin complained, and he didn't know what was more absurd, the fact that he wouldn't tell them him what was wrong, or that he had just used the term worry warts.

"Dad had a heart attack a little over a month ago." Clarke filed him in, deciding to cut the crap already, caught off guard by the softness and obvious worry in Bellamy's voice.

"Bell, I think I'm going to have a look around, you obviously have a lot to talk about here, and there's your meeting after. I promise I'll stay out of trouble." Octavia stepped in then, looking between them, and her brother could tell by her expression that she felt like she was intruding in something. "I'll see you later, it was a pleasure to meet you Clarke. Mr. Griffin, my brother speaks very highly of you." She smiled then, turning around to leave the camp fire area.

"Jake..." Bellamy settled down beside him on the log once his sister was out of sight. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were on your break lad, you haven't had a proper vacation from this place in a while... And as I said, I'm fine. I need to cut down my work load, take it easy on the stress, but I should be fine."

"You need to not be working at all, that's what you need." The annoyance in Clarke's voice was back, but it was laced with concern, and Bellamy felt sorry for her, a hand awkwardly reaching to touch her arm gently, as he agreed with her.

"I'm here for whatever you need, Jake. I can handle it." Bellamy said with conviction, letting go of the awkward hold he had on his daughter's arm so he could turn to the man himself.

"I know you are Bellamy, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you before you got here, but I really didn't need you worrying about this until you had to, not with Octavia graduating and the concerns you've already mentioned. You have your family to take care of, I have mine to take care of me, and they've been doing a splendid job." Jake turned to smile fondly at his daughter, and then leaned back to give his wife a reassuring smile as well.

"We're doing what we can, because you're stubborn as a mule." Clarke complained once again, and Jake and Bellamy couldn't hold back their snorts.

"I have to agree. You definitely have who to take after, Princess." Bellamy smirked, but it still wasn't relaxed.

"Clarke." Her father warned before she could snap at Bellamy again, and he could actually see the fire in her simmering down, even if slow and stubbornly. "The two of you need to stop this. You need to stop it, and you need to find a way to work together. I can't dump all my projects and problems on one person, I know that now, no one should have ever taken as much as I did alone, but I was deluded by the success we were having, and how excited everyone seemed to be here... But I can't have anyone else ending up like this on the same account, so I need you two to take care of the camp's creative direction. You can still come to me, and we can discuss things, but everything hands on is going to fall on the two of you, supervising activities, testing them..."

"Dad, you can't possibly mean..." Clarke trailed off doing her best to hide her displeasure, but Bellamy could still see it etched in her face, and he took a deep breath, before he cut her off.

"We'll manage, Jake. We'll find a way. Don't worry." Bellamy spoke up, tense and looking at Clarke seriously, and unwavering, strong but calm and reassuring, he stood up and looked down at the girl, goading her into questioning him if she had the need to be so stubborn, but he didn't doubt her practicality. "We can do it." He added, extending his hand to her and he wasn't sure what part of it that made her relent, but he could see the second she changed her mind over arguing about it, and decided to take his word.

"We can." He relaxed as she finally took his hand and shook it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IF I take too long again you guys can come yell at me on [tumblr](http://thesongwithin.tumblr.com), though try to be nice? 
> 
> So! Bellamy and Clarke's first interaction with one another. What did you guys think? Don't forget, feedback is love.


	4. Chapter Four.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couldn't get to posting on the weekend on the account of major health stuff. But here, we have it, hope you enjoy.

Whatever the hell her father was planning, Clarke was pretty mad for a minute or two over him deciding to not clue her in on it and ambushing her into compliance. It wasn't that she didn't trust her dad, or that she didn't know he only wanted what was best for her and the camp, but in all seriousness, where was his mind getting at pairing her off with Bellamy Blake? She knew the two of them had this weird mentorship going on, and that Bellamy had helped come up with and execute a lot of her father's ideas for the past years. However, he also applied a bit too much of unnecessary roughness for her to feel too comfortable about the idea. Her father understood it, and Jaha actually encouraged it, but it always felt a bit too much for her.

They wrapped up the campfire meeting just as people started pulling up in bulk, cars and buses and caravans dropping off people who mostly she and Wells guided over to their respective main cabins. Clarke was staying in the girl's, sharing a room with a quiet girl names Maya, who had pretty brown eyes, and studied Psychology at the local university. She'd grown up in a remote farm in Alaska, and was looking for a more people oriented experience in an environment she'd still feel comfortable in. Wells on the other hand, had actually lucked out, because Jasper and Monty had actually signed up to be junior counselors and requested to share that room, so he got to stay in the cottage the two usually rented.

"I can't believe you got your own cottage." She mumbled, once they were done loading the early birds into the cabins, their friends who would be cabin masters along with her getting there half way through it. "I can't believe you two gave up on a cottage to stay in the main cabin."

"Bellamy said there's no point in applying to be a counselor if you're not going to go all out. Experience it whole heartedly, you know?" Jasper explained, the excitement rolling off of him like that of a golden retriever. Clarke rolled her eyes a bit, of course, the advice would have come from Bellamy, Jasper worshipped the ground he walked on.

"How did you get dragged into this?" Wells beat Clarke to the punch as he turned to Monty.

"Do you honestly think it'd be a good idea to let anyone else share a small space with that clown?" He asked, nodding over to where Jasper had been, the tall, lanky one having moved inside to settle down their things. "He'd be banned and then he'd guilt me into never coming back either. Yeah, no thanks." Monty explained in a shrug. "This place has better WiFi service than anywhere in town, and the flora is fantastic."

"Well, I'll count my lucky stars for that." Wells said in a wide smile, as Clarke groaned, pressing at the bridge of her nose.

"We should head over to the dining hall, your dad's going to make his speech soon enough and I'm going to have to see what mine has in store for me after today's earlier plot twist." The girl took a deep breath, standing up straighter.

"What happened earlier? What did Pappa Griffin do?" Jasper popped back out of the cabin, having heard the last bit of Clarke's sentence, and having no ability or concept what so ever of keeping his curiosity at bay.

"My dad's having some health issues, so he's stepping down as creative director... Or, well, better putting it, taking on help." She trailed off nodding slowly, as they started making their way over to the dining hall, stepping over the camp's freshly mown green grass. "More specifically mine and..." Clarke rolled her eyes, because of course she wouldn't get to finish the sentence, the voice calling out to interrupt her none other than the one she was about to mention.

"Jasper! Monty! Wait up!" Bellamy Blake's deep rich voice reached them clear and easily, as all of them stopped and turned to wait for him, much to her aggravation and present confusion. He walked up to them with the girl Clarke now knew was his sister, Octavia. Beside them, to brighten her mood at least, Raven and Wick. "Has the Princess already shared the news with you?"

"She was about to, but you interrupted her." Monty replied, and Clarke could feel her body growing tense as the tall, tanned man-boy who finally caught up to them slung an arm around her shoulder, before she willed herself to relax in what could be interpreted as a friendly gesture. She really needed to learn to react and act around him in a manner that would minimize casualties.

"Well, go on." He said, in what she could only figure was meant to be an encouraging tone.

"Me and Bellamy. Bellamy's my new partner." The blonde mumbled, a little less begrudgingly than she felt.

"See? Now was that so hard?" He asked, tone light, and playful.

"How can you possibly be so excited about this when..." She could swear her face was turning bright red with frustration as he cut her off for the second time that day.

"When I'm finally being awarded the position and responsibilities I've wanted since I got here? Geez, Princess. I don't know." Bellamy's tone was pressing enough that it made a point, her lips pursed stubbornly in response, as she crossed her arms.

"We should get going, we'll miss the speech." She chose to say instead.

"I think you mean all the good food, because the speech really isn't all that interesting. It's not like Jaha's announcing a once in a lifetime Triwizard tournament, the speech is pretty standard." Wick said behind an easy going smirk. "I mean no disrespect, Wells."

"No, you're right. Dad's been growing pretty uninspired." The owner's son shrugged pretty nonchalant.

"The food's still great though, and I'm starving." Raven cried, exaggeratedly, trying to pull away from Kyle's hug as he reached over to rub her stomach.

"Come on everyone, tonight, we dine in hell." Bellamy called to them, as they all made their way to the dining hall, and Clarke had to give him that, the reference had actually made her crack a little smile.

 

The first day at the Ark was always a relaxing experience, definitely not a show of what was to come. Whoever got in before lunch could see Thelonious opening speech before they ate a spectacular meal, and were free to take in their surroundings and make themselves comfortable until it was time for the opening bonfire, where they actually roasted a pork on open fire, along with sausages, marshmallows and everything one could expect from a camp fire.

It was one of Clarke's favorite moments at camp, people there were either recurring campers who loved the experience so much they were back, or newcomers bright eyed with possibilities. There was enough beer to make people more sociable, but enough Abby Griffith to make sure people wouldn't be allowed to consume too much since her, and her team were responsible to pouring beer in the cups. Not that there wasn't always a group or two of campers who brought their own hard liqueur and caused some ruckus. Ruckus was often Monty and Jasper's specialty, and Clarke could see them from her spot beside her mother right now, pouring something from a happy flask into their soda cups.

"Mom, I've been here for an hour, this is one of my favorite days at camp, can you call someone else to replace me now?" Clarke asked, sighing a bit as she eyes her friends eagerly. Most counselors had started to relax and make their ways around the campfire, those who could play instruments having started to provide some entertainment, even Wells and Kane had finished setting up the fireworks, and were just waiting for the go to start the show, even if that would still take a while.

"Fine Clarke. Find Jackson to cover for you, please." Was her mother's response though she had barely stayed to listen to it all, already stepping away by the time she mentioned Jackson, who she found easily enough, telling him to step in.

"Clarke! Finally!" Monty exclaimed, almost as if relaxing once he saw her. "It's been a bitch trying to save you some whisky." The boy handed her over a red cup that smelled of Jack and Coke, and she blushed a bit.

"You didn't have to. I'm not sure I should be drinking, I'm on clinic duty." Her eyes narrowed venomously as she heard a snort, coming from the bane of her existence, who was obviously settled very comfortably within their group.

"Come on Clarke, it's just one drink." Jasper pleaded with her, though a little sluggishly. "Though if you don't want it, I wouldn't say no." He added in a smirk that stretched over his face before a hiccup.

"Definitely no more for you." Bellamy actually said then, and even though he had an easy smile across his lips, his voice left no mistake that he meant it. "Not before a couple cups of jack-less cokes." He added, standing up from his log and taking a sip from his cup. "But you, Princess? You should lighten up, it's just a drink." He turned to her, the easy smile turning a little more mischievous, like it almost always did when he was talking to her. "Unless you're that much of a light weight." Her eyes narrowed forward, before she held his gaze in challenge, bringing her cup to her lips and draining its content, pushing the cup into his unreasonably warm and firm chest.

"Why don't you make yourself useful and pour me some more while I go get myself something to eat." Clarke said without faltering, and waiting a beat before turning around to do what she said, hearing him call after her then.

"Brave Princess." She turned just to see the smirk on his lips, before getting back to the task at hand. Talking about which, she shook hers, trying to make it stop sending these little electric jolts up her arm from where she had pressed into his skin. She did the same with her head, trying to clear her brain from the fuzzy feeling that came both from draining a full glass of alcohol on an empty stomach and the memory of the feel of his chests under his fingers. Clarke Griffin was not about to go gown the rabbit whole that was entertaining thoughts of how she'd like her hands to actively get acquainted with Bellamy's torso, she was certainly not.

"Only when hell freezes over." She mumbled to herself, taking a steadying breath, and shutting those thoughts in a familiar deep corner of her brain, where she filled flashes of his naked chest, dimpled smiles and flirtatious winks she had never admitted to anyone that she spent time thinking about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me down the rabbit hole, on [tumblr.](http://thesongwithin.tumblr.com)


	5. Chapter Five.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is getting a bit tiresome isn't it? Sorry guys, I'm trying to keep motivated with putting these chapters out, and I hate whining about feedback, but really, the response to this fic has been majorly underwhelming. I don't know if the theme's saturated, and people don't care for it too much, or if it's not as good as the other things I've posted... But I was really excited starting out, and I'm kind of just not anymore. I have the rough sketches of the next few chapters written, but I still need to edit heavily and make them work, so I don't know.

Not wanting to be the kind of people that lied to themselves, Bellamy could admit he was pretty impressed by the way she kept his gaze, pure determination, as she drained the cup. The compliment had slipped through his mouth, honest, even if in a teasing manner, without much thought. Not that he couldn’t tell a lot of Clarke’s stubbornness had to do with bravery, but still.

“Have you guys got any left?” Bellamy turned back to Monty and Jasper, the former reaching over the flask and turning it over onto the cup Clarke had thrust upon Bellamy’s chest, but it barely made a few sounds as nearly anything fell out of it. “Well, I guess I’ll have to scavenge from my personal stock.” He shrugged in a resigned smirk.

“Bring me some.” Jasper giggled in another hiccup, and received an eye roll in response. “You and Clarke are more alike than you let on.”

“Please, don’t ever let blasphemy like that cross your mouth ever again.” Are Bellamy’s last words before he turns on his heel and heads over to his cottage, but secretly he’s starting to question that for himself. It’s not a far trip to his cabin, since the single cottages are the closest thing to the campfire, and his is the second to last. In a quick pace it takes him less than two minutes to walk over.

Two minutes (and the news of Jake Griffin’s health situation) was enough for him to reconsider everything he had tucked away in his Princess Clarke Griffin mental folder. Sure, four years before when he’d met her it was hard not to feel a little resentment for someone who’s parents were so obviously trying to be there for her in every way, and who didn’t have to struggle for anything in life. She was rich, smart, beautiful (what? He wasn’t blind), and she lived in fucking paradise. If he were honest, the news that she was putting some ground between herself and the camp when she headed off to college was his first warning sign that things might not have been as fun and dandy as he had once assumed.

If it were anyone else he would have easily dismissed it as them being an ungrateful little brat, but he’d dealt with a lot of those at camp, and though the Princess was definitely stubborn, she was not spoilt or ungrateful. Even though that might have been his first assessment, he knew enough by now to know he had judged her a little too harshly when they first met. Bellamy’s own stubborn nature may or may not be at fault that he’d never tried to atone for that.

Bellamy knows though that now he sort of has to, not just because they’ll be working together, but because between that, her father, her mother’s overbearing nature and university he knew she had a lot on her plate, and if there was one thing he could relate to was that. He had no intention of making things harder for her, and if he ended up having a reasonably amicable relationship with a pretty girl, he wasn’t going to complain.

Yes. All that goes through his mind on his two minute walk over to his cottage. It takes him about the same time to head up to the second floor and fill the cup to the brim with whisky. He might not give Jasper some, but that doesn’t mean the others won’t appreciate it as well. But obviously that means he has to pace himself when he’s coming back, and by then Clarke has returned, munching on a sausage, and sitting besides Raven.

“You requested refreshments, Princess?” Bellamy smirked, but he reached for the brunette’s glass first and poured some of the amber looking liquid onto it, and then some onto Wick’s. “You. Have had enough.” He pointed at Octavia, who was holding out her cup for him, sitting a bit too close for comfort to Lincoln, his comfort that was. “You. Stop flirting with my baby sister, treat her as if she’s five.”

“Shut the fuck up, Bellamy. I’m nineteen.” He smiled, smugly enough over having sort of cut their cozy moment short. “Monty? Miller?”

“I’ve had enough as well, I think I’ll stick to beer now.” Monty smiled, and started making his way over to get some, while Miller agreed.

“I’ll go get us the soda and you can then treat yourself, Princess.” He winked sheepishly at Clarke, before heading over to the drink station to grab them a bottle of coke. Coming back Bellamy grabbed his nearly forgotten glass and started pouring most of the liquid onto it, leaving about a finger or two, before topping off Clarke’s with soda. “Sorry about the wait.”

“I thought the guys were out of whisky. Where did you go, make your own from scratch?” She asked, even though she took the cup.

“Hardly, but that is from my private stash. You should feel special.” Bellamy’s lips quirked up a bit as he brought the cup over to them and took a sip of his, straight, no coke.

“You didn’t have to go to that trouble.” Clarke mumbled, looking down at her glass as she traced the brim.

“Is that your way of saying thank you? Because if it’s the best I’ll get, I’ll take it.” He teased, before he could help himself really, because she seemed to bring it out in him. “No, seriously, it was no trouble. Besides, I could top everyone in condition to be drinking off.”

“So you’re actually keeping track of who is or isn’t in condition to be drinking?” The blonde asked skeptically, arching an perfectly drawn eyebrow at him, bringing his attention to the little birth mark she had over there as well, where said attention stayed for a while. He had noticed the over her lip before, surprised with having missed that one, over the fact that he had pretty much mapped out her face already. Not just because she was undeniably pretty, and really, Bellamy wouldn’t deny that, but because after the Finn Collins fiasco, he actually feared for his life if he actually pissed her off more than the reasonable amount, so he learnt to read her expression.

“It’s not like I want everybody getting sick around camp, I do know I work here, and I’m not an irresponsible jackass.” He argued for himself, though there could be some debating on the manner, a lot of it coming from her, he didn’t feel like such.

“Says the man who brought a liqueur stash into his work place.” She mumbled into her cup one more time, taking a sip from it.

“Again, one that you are taking advantage of.” He countered, finishing his drink and tipping the cup over to her. “Besides, I brought a bottle of Jack. I think that’s pretty reasonable for three months’ time.” Bellamy shrugged, and smiled when Clarke didn’t seem to have anything to say to that. “And I don’t want any of these asses to get sick, because contrary to popular belief, I do have a heart, and I care.”

“Damn, Blake. You’re getting soft.” It was Raven who finally spoke up, but she had a smirk on her lips, as she finished the whisky he had just brought her. “I’m going to start thinking you’re trying a little too hard to impress Clarke.” She carried on, which warranted a snort from both of them.

“I’m just being honest. You munchkins have kind of grown on me.” He responded, and fist bumped Wick when he presented his fist to be bumped. “Or maybe it’s the camp fire, and the summer air.”

“Oh, you care, brother bear.” Octavia ceased her opportunity to tease him, but since she seasoned it with a hug, he felt a little swayed to let her have it, besides, he had interrupted her moment with Lincoln. Not that he thought he was unjustified, he was almost ten years older than her, and she was his baby sister, still. “You just don’t want everyone to know you’ve got the biggest heart here.”

“Let’s not go that far.” Bellamy rolled his eyes in response, though he was actually blushing, hoping that not many of them could notice in the dark, or thinking he could blame it on the fire either way.

“To be objective… You are the tallest, and biggest. So… You probably do.” It was Clarke’s turn to tease him, as she set down her cup as well. “Pre-med.” She added, in a small smirk.

“Smart Princess.” He added, and much like the last time, the nickname had rolled from his lips a lot less acidly.

“I like to think so.” He watched her get up and dust the knees on her jeans, and smiled at them. “I’m going after Monty, get some beer. Anyone?” He laughed when nearly everyone held their cups out for her.

“I’ll come along.” Bellamy offered and took about half the cups, while she took the rest and started walking with her.

“You didn’t have to volunteer to come again, you know?” She told him, looking up at him, and sometimes it caught him by surprise how much she had to turn her chin up. With how big a game she talked, and her sheer force of will he forgot sometimes that Clarke was basically as tiny as Octavia.

“I know.” He nodded in agreement, stacking up the empty cups, and moving his hands to his pockets, his little finger poking out to hold onto them. “But I figured we should talk.”

“Oh, should we?” Bellamy couldn’t help the eye roll at her tone, but chuckled after, licking at his lips, and shaking his head, before he took a deep breath in preparation.

“We’ll probably be doing a lot of that, you know? Talking. Because of your dad and all.” His voice was low and deep, but clear, and he could tell she understood the importance of what he was saying. “I have a lot of cool ideas, that we talked about… Both on the activities front, and extra-curricular. He has some insights, about this place… That we share.”

“What sort of… Insights?” Clarke pressed, and he watched as her teeth found their way to her bottom lip over having the chance to finally get some perspective into how far her father’s relationship with Bellamy was.

“Prices. Mostly. Who can afford to come here, excluding a whole group of people that might be interested and can’t afford it, instead becoming some glorified wildlife babysitters to snotty privileged kids.” Bellamy tried to put it as nonchalant as he could, but he knew there was some feeling in the way he said it. “He mentioned you might have agreed with that.”

“I did.” She answered, and seemed to take a breath she hadn’t meant to be holding, and she studied him intently, and in all honesty it made him a bit uncomfortable, but he stood up straighter, not wanting to let that show. “I mean, I do.” Clarke added, relaxing after a beat, making him do the same.

“Good, good.” Bellamy offered her a genuine smile and it wasn’t one out of sorrow or pity for her situation, but of actual interest in what they might come up with together. “I have some ideas.”

“Please, enlighten me.” In any other circumstance, if she had said that to him, he would have read it as condescending, but as they approached the start of the line and she handed her glasses to be filled with beer, she answered him with a smile that mirrored his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's also been pretty busy couple of months since I'm moving out of the country later this year, and I've had a bunch of family birthdays to attend (including mine, that was Thursday) but I'm having a party later in the month that I'm helping my mom organize, and it's taking a lot of work, because my mom wants to do something nice.


End file.
